Margaret Teresa MacDonald (Primary Source)

Transcript

I joined [the] RCAF WDs^* specifying that I chose to be a clerk ops [operations]. I anticipated being where the action was. So much for the idea. They told me I would be in admin. Good-bye excitement, good-bye glamour, hello mediocre and boring. I was so wrong.

The next four and a half years brought a variety of positions which, though not glamorous, certainly were interesting, challenging and satisfying. The longest post I held in the air force station was nine months, [RCAF] Mont-Joli. It was in Québec. [I was] there as an assistant aid adjutant and as instructor in air force administration. This required that I teach air force manual to a class of approximately 90 air gunner trainees. These servicemen were part of the [British] Commonwealth [Air] Training Plan. They included servicemen from Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand. There’s also Polish airmen from the RAF [Royal Air Force]. Can you imagine how interested these gentlemen were in these dry bones rules and regulations?

A rather precious memory of this particular posting was the time that I organized our Women’s Division, or WDs, to reach out to the children of war-torn Britain. They were just great. They responded making dolls’ clothes and collecting toys, which were donated to the Red Cross for distribution. They did this with such joy and generosity.

Later I was transferred to a special services division, which was formed to take care of the welfare of our service personnel. This transfer enabled me to make use of the training I had in civilian life, that is, social work. Compassionate postings and repatriations were looked into, and where appropriate, intervention of local civilian service agencies were requested. Sometimes the RCAF Benevolent Fund^** was contacted many times through their financial assistance, the stress burdening our servicemen and women was relieved.

And when the British brides of RCAF servicemen arrived in Canada they were met at the ship’s dock in Halifax or port of Montréal. I had the privilege of greeting them and, as conducting officer, escorting them across Canada. Gradually, we dropped them off at various destinations along the way. Can you picture some gal from London with a baby in tow at a flagstop in Medicine Hat, Alberta, who she introduced to her in-laws that she never saw before? Quite a journey for these ladies on ships crossing the ocean avoiding torpedoes, followed by a long tedious ride of train to meet new in-laws. Hello, Canada.

This story is just a miniscule part of the whole picture. I imagine I’m not alone. Many other colleagues spent their service years in unheralded positions.

When it came time for graduation ceremonies, I was elected to be part of the program. I joined the presentation, handing the wings to the officer commanding as he pinned the brand new insignia on each graduate. What was so unique about this, was the fact that a female was part of this very special graduation.

In Mont-Joli, I met an officer who originally came from Vancouver and through the — oh, he was engaged to be married when I met him, so he had a girlfriend back in the West. And, anyway, he ended up marrying her. And then years later, I’m married, I have children, I’m in Montréal and I happen to be downtown at the corner of Peel and Ste. Catherine’s Street, which is considered the centre of the world. And this man came up. And I noticed him because he was dressed in summertime in the navy summer suit, with a hat and the [in] Montréal — you know, they weren’t, they didn’t dress like that, now he was from the West. And I looked at him and he looked at me, and he said, “Peg?” And I said, “Perky?” Ended up that he’d just been transferred by the Bay. He was working as a buyer.

And then I said, “You have to come to dinner, and you have to meet my husband.” That was it. We were friends forever. My husband and he, his wife and I, and they all, their children, they grew up together and had a wonderful relationship. I was there, he unfortunately died a few years ago, and he asked for me.

I remember going to northern Québec to visit a family because the boy was overseas, and he was worried about his mother. And I remember it was very, oh, just they had one little train going to where they were. But they were amazed that the air force cared enough about their personnel that they sent somebody up to make sure that everything is okay, or if they could help. And the Benevolent, the RCAF Benevolent Fund was wonderful because there were many times when somebody needed something that was vital, and they were able to supply the money for it.

^*The Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s Division was established to aid the air force in administrative and training duties, including administration, telephone operations and mechanical work.

^**The RCAF Benevolent Fund was established after the First World War to support the well being of active service people, former members and their families.